We need a dominant goal scorer We need a dominant goal scorer We need a dominant goal scorer We need a dominant goal scorer We need a dominant goal scorer We need a dominant goal scorer We need a dominant goal scorer We need a dominant goal scorer We need a dominant goal scorer ---ust saying
I agree on the goal scorer need, but I just do not see it coming. There are three guys that Heaps believes in and has seen produce before and there is the built in excuse of Davies injuries so far and new parenthood. I fear that the train of thought is "No need to spend when we know Davies will be back to normal at some point. Agudelo too!"
What happens first, Agudelo and/or Davies find their prior goalscoring form or there is news on the stadium front? My money is on the stadium.
My buddy lives in Portland and is in the Timbers Army and posted a blog on Facebook. Apparently, their traveling fans are butthurt they weren't able to bring a banner into Gillette tonight. Take a look at the blog if you want to see the banner and come to your own conclusions. Is the revs' FO justified or too sensitive? Do their fans have a case? FWIW to me, it's comical (and classless) they'd make a banner that mocks the home team and rubs in the fact they won the cup - then whine when it wasn't allowed in. To save themselves the time and effort, a 10 second Google search would have revealed the Gillette Stadium banner policy, which states: I used to respect them but If they are going to bitch and moan about this, they have dropped to Seattle's whiny, holier than thou level. But I digress, back to tonight's pulsating, heart-pounding 1-1 draw.
Sure. As long as we ignore the slight tiny itty bitty fact that the teams below us all have at least one game in hand, and were they to win their (at least one) game, they'd be tied with us or pass us. This team is allergic to the ball in the final third. That's all I can think at this point. Another lackluster game. Joy.
Yeah, I caught that too, and the timing was impeccable--the words were still floating out there in the air when Davies went down. But the Revs use analytics! They really are the sharpest tools in the shed! I was driving last night and listened to the first half on radio, and I have to say this was much better than previous "TV on the radio" broadcasts. OK, I can now see better than Helen Keller, but I don't want to be too much of an NNN, so I want to acknowledge improvement when I see it. Anyway, I noticed that Smith's name was called more often in attacking situations than Fagundez was. I wondered for a second if he was playing left mid, and that Heaps switched to a Sampsonesque 3-6-1, but then I realized that this is Jay Heaps and nothing is going to change his formation, nothing. Oh, and regarding the Portland banner, screw them! You can't come into someone else's house and mock them, and when denied, whine about it. They are Seattle. It may not have been obscene or offensive (although that's in the eye of the beholder), but these children need to learn that "free speech" does not equate doing anything you want with no consequences or ramifications.
The Good I thought Smith was pretty good, a few more good moments than bad. Nagbe did get past him pretty easily in the lead up to Portland's goal. Offensively about the same impact as Tierney, but he brought a few different ideas, and anything different is encouraging at this point. Watson was effective coming forward. Couldn't see if he had some responsibility on Portland's goal. Farrell had another good game, and he had a 1 or 2 noticeably better attacking runs. He struck me as having played with particular grit and determination. Koffee - seems to be increasing in influence in every game. Femi - another intriguing sub appearance - the pressure he brings is something Fagundez and Rowe can't seem to conjure up. Like to see him get 45 minutes next match. The middling: Kobayashi - same as he ever was. Agudelo - took a long time to get involved, but at the end, was at least causing some havoc. Maybe he has shaken some of the rust off. Goncalves - about par for the course. Lee - performance comparable to recent form, tons of poise and possession, not so many decent final balls. His corners and free kicks were below par. The Bad These two guys don't seem to be having any fun. Fagundez - brought almost nothing to the attack unless he was 25 yards out, and then it was mostly lateral. Looked uninspired. Rowe - much of the same frustrating Rowe that others have been complaining about, but to me see seemed almost asleep at times. Much worse than average - may need a day off.
Seeing Femi last night working hard for the few minutes he was in ... made me even more upset with Heaps for not using him in DC.
It was true - Smith was more involved that Tierney usually is and in different ways. He actually beat a defender 1-1 on a couple of occasions and squeezed into the box! Far be it from me to try to parse that tactical genius that is Jay Heaps, but it struck me that this was deliberate and Diego might have been instructed to have Smith's back whenever he attacked.
Would it hurt to try switching to a 4-4-2? The one striker formation is just not cutting it. At some point, you need to try something different. Less than 1 GPG since week 1 is getting the job done. I understand Heaps' logic of our roster strength is in the midfield, but that obviously isn't equating to goals and wins.
I thought the Portland fans' banner was pretty tame, mildly humorous, and something I hope we can do to another team one day.
Shots: NE 16:8 POR Possession: NE 61.8% : 38.2% POR Total Passes NE 496:325 POR Shots on Goal: NE 2:2 POR One of these things is not like the others...
Actually, if the season ended now, with not everyone having played the same number of games, they would go to points per game (see 2001 season). The Revs would be tied for 7th in the East and miss the playoffs.
I thought Kobayashi was actually pretty good. Had some slick passing. We dominated the midfield again. I think at this point, teams just conserve energy, let us pass the ball around in the midfield, and don't pressure us there because they know it's not very dangerous. Smith looked good at left back, especially considering it was his first game time in about a year. I hope he starts on Saturday. Femi brought great energy but his touch was pretty bad. He wasn't really able to control the ball and hold up play when the ball came in to him. He's a good player to have if we're playing route one, or banging the ball into the box. But I'm not sure how well he'd work for the first 70 minutes of a game. I thought Davies was playing pretty poorly. I remember a free kick that Nguyen took that went past everyone in the box and bounced off Davies' knee, backwards. Davies was wide open and it should have been an easy goal. We were very lucky that Adi bungled his shot on that 5 v 3 counter around the 10th minute (after our corner kick).
Several things We do not have enough quality players to do any better than last night... this is what it will be all season. Burns and company will do NOTHING as usual I continue to find Rowe mostly useless. I saw one series where he managed to turn it over twice on the same possession (turn over, got it back, turned it over again). Totally overrated in Heaps mind STOP the TICKEY TACK one touch passing in the attacking third. Somebody grow a pair and try to score. We are NOT going to dribble it into the net Finally, if they won't fire Heaps, at least get a top flight offensive coordinator to work with these clowns to try and generate shots. It's like most people stand around and watch the halfbacks pass it around and get rid of friggin Rowe
I don't understand the Rowe hatred. He put in the best cross of the night that led to our goal, hasn't been any more inept than anyone else in the front four, and works hard defensively.
I was a bit intrigued that it didn't look like any of our players tried to take on a defender on the dribble; our outside backs seemed to be the only ones doing it. Not sure if that is just me, but weird. The stat on just having 2 shots on goal, while having the significant advantage on possession, shots and passes (not to mention we had over 10 corner kicks didn't we?) is pretty damning. I liked Smith, he's strong and fast and a good touch. I did fault him quite a bit on Portland's goal. He stands a couple yards away as the ball comes to Adi who is covered by JoGo. JoGo kind of looks Smith's way, let's Adi turn that way and Smith stays glued to where he is as Nagbe runs inside of Smith to collect the ball and makes the cross that leads to the goal. Smith was covering nobody with nobody out wide and doesn't tuck in to help. Certainly JoGo could have done better with denying the first ball and Portland was lucky on the shot, but Smith owns some of that. In regards to our overall results -- what exactly is Heaps supposed to do with the talent on this team?
In 2014, the Chicago Fire broke the record for draws in a season with 18. They were 13 points shy of making the playoffs. The Revs are on pace to break that record.
Totally. Just set up your D, and you've stopped the Revolution. Heck, they'll even slow the pace down for you so you can get your Defense all nice and tidy behind the ball.
That's the thing... back in the paleolithic age when a win was 2 points, a draw was half of a win, so no big deal. But if the Revs had a win and a loss for every 2 draws, well, they'd be a lot better off. But that's OK, we're just as good as the defending MLS Cup champs, so therefore we should be co-champs, right? Do we get a half-star on our shirts now?
I have been similarly puzzled by the criticism of Rowe. However last night I had a seat near the corner flag. and saw more of him when he doesn't have the ball than I typically do when watching on TV. He doesn't have many moves off the ball that pay off, and at times seems to check out of the play only to find Lee putting a pass where he could have been, but wasn't. Lackluster.
He has been a major reason our attacks break down on the final third. My main problem with him is he makes the wrong decision far too often.